WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The extreme heat this week has every one looking for a way to keep cool, and it pushed a power company to a new record.

Progress Energy Carolinas says its customers set a peak electricity demand record Thursday, as heat indices of up to 115 degrees had air conditioners churning through the afternoon and evening.

In the hour ending at 5 p.m., customers used 12,738 megawatt-hours (MWh), or 12.7 million kilowatt-hours, of electricity. The hourly demand eclipsed the prior record of 12,656 MWh, set Aug. 9, 2007.

Progress Energy Carolinas does not anticipate record-setting demand on Friday. Nor does the company anticipate problems meeting customer demand during this period of high temperatures. Cooler temperatures are forecast next week.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Deputies in Brunswick County have arrested a nurse for allegedly ripping off an elderly patient in her care.

The Sheriff’s Office charged Berkley Lyn Croft, 38, of Winnabow, with exploitation of an elder adult by person in position of trust.

Detectives say a month-long investigation determined Croft, who was working as license practical nurse at a Leland nursing home, used a patient’s bank card without consent to get $1,800 from the patient’s back account.

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — Three fired Leland Police officers argued their case to Town Manager David Hollis today about why they deserve their jobs back.

The town fired Lt. Bill Kozak, Lt. Rick Dellapia and officer John Blasingame back in April after an internal investigation by the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office. Today, the three men made one last attempt to clear their names.

Although the officers’ lawyer previously said he did not feel prepared to argue the case, because he could not get access to information from an investigation, Hollis says the process moved forward. Now, he has to determine what will happen next.

“I don’t want to say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to have it in a certain amount of time.’ I reserve that 15 days to make sure I’m looking through it thoroughly,” Hollis said.

Hollis says this is the last step that needs to be taken so the town can move forward instead of focusing on old issues within the police department.

He says the department is still working under an interim police chief, but a more permanent decision will be made after the appeals process with the fired officers is complete.

“After we can come to a conclusion here, we feel like we’d have a better situation to bring a permanent chief in to play,” Hollis said.

At that point all that would be left unresolved is an SBI investigation into the Leland Police Department. Any potential criminal charges would be up to state investigators.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A man was found dead inside his home this morning after a shooting at a Wilmington housing project. Wilmington Police say an officer found Brian Grant, 32, inside his Creekwood apartment four years to the day since another murder in the area.